Spiritual Zombies, Arise! (Ephesians 5:3-14) Series

This week, we continue our Ephesians study, and we find ourselves picking up midstream in Paul's argument. What we've seen up to this point, is that God is a good and loving God, who acts rightly toward his people, showing them grace and kindness. And God is the process of creating one holy family who will live with him, and who will live like him, in peace and righteousness toward God, and toward each other. Our job is to walk worthily of our calling, and become the holy people that God has created us to be.

At a certain point, all of this becomes really practical, and concrete. There are certain sins and lifestyle choices that are unacceptable for God's holy people, and God insists that we stop doing those things. Those sins are the old shirt we took off. They are the old road we used to walk. There are also certain types of righteous behavior that God wants us to wear instead, and to walk in. As we read, at every point we find that we can make two columns, one of bad behavior, and one of good, and Paul encourages us to choose the good. There are do's, and don'ts, and we don't need to feel embarrassed about this, or worry that we are slipping into legalism or "works righteousness." Every family has house rules, do's and don'ts, and God's family works the same way.

Let's start by reading the last four verses from last week, starting in Ephesians 4:31, and then we'll press forward:

(31) All bitterness and rage and wrath and harmful speech should be removed from you, together with all wickedness.

(32) Become toward one another kind, tenderhearted,

showing grace toward one another,

just as also God in Christ showed grace to you.

(5:1) And so then, become imitators of God, as beloved children,

and walk in love,

just as also Christ loved us,

and he gave himself over for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a pleasing smell (Genesis 8:21; Exodus 29:18).

Here's where we start new content. Verse 3-4:

(3) Now, sexual immorality and all uncleanness or greediness must not even be named among you,

just as it is fitting for the holy ones,

(4) and shameful behavior and foolish talk or coarse/crude joking,

which aren't proper,

but rather thanksgiving.

Starting in verse 3, Paul lists three sins that we, as God's holy ones, must completely avoid: (1) sexual immorality, (2) all uncleanness, and (3) greed. Paul knows these sins are wrong, and the Ephesians know these sins are wrong. So Paul can begin here, not by saying "don't do these sins" but by saying, "don't even name these sins among you." What does this mean? "Sexual immorality, and all uncleanness or greediness must not be named among you."

All of us appreciate a good story. If someone has something hilarious happen to them, you want to hear the story, right? A few years ago, there was a big news story about how a runner was attacked by a mountain lion, and he killed it by choking it out. No one believed him, but when they autopsied the mountain lion, his story checked out. Crazy.

These are the kinds of stories we find ourselves talking about sometimes at church-- "the things we name among us." And there is nothing wrong with these stories. But sometimes the stories we tell among ourselves have to do with people getting caught up in sin. We say, "Did you hear what so-and-so did?" Or, "Did you hear about that pastor's affair in such-and-such a town?" And then we tell the sordid tale. Probably, we make all right noises as we tell our story. We shake our heads, we go, "tsk, tsk." We say, "What a shame."

But why are we telling this story? We're making all the right noises, saying all the right things, but if we find these stories interesting, I think it says something about ourselves. For all our talk, maybe we find the deceitful desires of sin appealing. We find ourselves drawn to them. We know these sins are wrong; we know we shouldn't do them. But we're like a kid in a candy store, and we find ourselves wanting to get a close look. They're fascinating.

I think what Paul means when he says these sins must not be named among you, because they aren't fitting, is something like this. We hear stories about people sinning in really destructive, terrible ways, and we want to share. Someone else knows these stories, and we want to hear. But these sins are dangerous, and we need to treat them like they are dangerous. So these sins are not proper topics for casual conversation. If you need to warn someone about these sins, then warn them. If you're up front preaching, and the verse is about sexual immorality, you have to warn. If a fellow believer is doing these sins, you need to warn them. But don't be telling stories about celebrities, or people you know, who have been sexually immoral. This isn't the type of thing that's fitting conversation for God's holy ones.